The Pile carpets of Persia, especially those of Kurdistan, Khorassan, Kirman, and Ferahan, are the finest in the world, being magnificent in colour and having bold conventional patterns of their beautiful flora, with birds and animals interspersed with the ornament, giving a largeness of mass and interest and vitality of detail. The illustration on the opposite page is from a fine 16th century Persian carpet, and is a good example of their methods and traditions. The hyacinth, tulip, iris and the pink, are frequently introduced, together with the hom or tree of life. An illustration is given (fig. 2, plate 22) of a Genoa fabric but of Persian design, showing the typical “pink” with its simplicity and beauty of line. This traditional art of Persia had a most marked influence upon the textile fabrics of Europe from the 12th to the 17th centuries. This was no doubt due to many causes, but the perfect adaptability to the process of weaving, the interest, inventiveness and beauty of the ornament, and the singular frank treatment of form and colour, doubtless appealed to the craftsmen of Europe, and hence we find many Persian designs produced in Sicily, Spain, Italy, France and Flanders. [Illustration: DOUBLE MULLION PATTERN, ITALIAN.] The finest silk velvets and damasks produced from the looms of Florence show a distinct Persian influence in their bold artichoke and pomegranate patterns of the 16th and 17th centuries. In Genoa, similar patterns in many coloured velvets were produced, and it is singular how largely this persistency of type prevails in all countries. [Illustration: SILK ITALIAN 16th CENTURY] In 1480, Louis XI. introduced the art into France, when looms were established at Tours, and in 1520 they were established at Lyons by Francis I., and the art of weaving rapidly spread. The earliest fabrics of these looms have patterns similar to the Persian and Italian fabrics; but soon the vase pattern, which no doubt had its origin in Byzantine textiles and which had been used by the Persians and Italians, began to influence French designs. However, this rapidly gave place towards the middle of the 17th century to the imitations of ribbons and laces in textile fabrics, together with a more naturalistic treatment of floral forms, and the beauty, suggestiveness and interest of the early patterns now gave way to prettiness, affectation and a naturalistic treatment which culminated in the period of Madame Pompadour. The remarkable invention of perforated cards for facilitating the weaving of figured fabrics was introduced by Bonchon, 1725, and continued by Falcon in 1728, by Vancanson in 1745, and perfected by Joseph Marie Jacquard, 1752-1834.